TBR CH199

A raven’s beak tapped on the palace window.

Hilda went to the window and took a scroll of parchment from the raven’s claws.

The golden-haired hero sneered, “What an ominous creature. It must bring bad luck. What kind of spell did you cast on them to be able to stay in the palace?”

“Actually,” Hilda began to read the letter.

Her expression seemed to freeze for a moment as she realized what the letter said, but she quickly pretended to be unconcerned and said, “They wrote to me and specifically asked me to come.”

While she was dealing with the hero’s obvious provocation, Debbie, who had been focused on playing with her doll, unknowingly walked over to the window. She boldly stared at the pitch-black raven and its sharp beak, then cautiously touched it. The raven, trained to deliver letters, had a very gentle temperament and simply rubbed its head against her palm.

But Debbie still cried out in surprise, “It likes me!”

“That’s right,” Hilda agreed without lifting her eyes. Although the raven was most likely just dealing with an annoying human with a work attitude, she had already turned to the second page of the letter. The content of it would have been enough to make her hair stand on end twenty years ago, but since the Archmage was—a cat—here, she could at least maintain emotional stability.

The hero, Bai Mingchen, walked towards Debbie, as if trying to fulfill his duty.

“These evil creatures are a symbol of the devil,” he said, “They are very dangerous, Debbie, and you must never let them get close to you. Let me help you drive it out.”

He probably felt that drawing a sword and waving it at a messenger raven would be beneath a hero’s dignity, so he just held out his hand and waved it bravely, trying to shoo the raven out of the window. Hilda finally found a moment to look over. The witch let out a soft whistle, like the wind rustling through branches.

Not only did the raven not move its claws from its perch, but it also started trying to attack the hero with its beak.

Pecked several times by the large black bird, the arrogant hero desperately used his hands to block the raven’s rapidly flapping black wings—although the health deducted from the health bar above his head was negligible, Bai Mingchen still felt very angry.

He put his hand on his sword hilt, ready to draw his sword.

“You’re scaring Debbie,” but the raven flapped its wings and flew behind him. Bai Shi adjusted his view slightly and saw the witch’s glassy eyes.

She had finished reading the letter and had somehow appeared next to the princess, staring ironically at the hero who was about to draw his sword, repeating the exact same words, “I can’t believe you’re getting angry at a raven. What kind of spell did you cast on them to be able to stay in the palace?”

Debbie’s face turned pale again at the sight of the sword.

But she still looked up with a small, frightened face and asked with concern, “Hero brother, are you okay?”

“No… of course not,” Bai Shi quickly said. Although he really wanted to accuse the witch of bringing dangerous animals into the palace, it would obviously be more embarrassing for a hero to admit he was afraid of a mere raven.

He looked at Hilda with a displeased expression, “Anyway, the princess’s safety is of utmost importance right now. This creature is a potential hazard and might carry viruses. It must have brought terrible bad news.”

“Viruses?” Hilda repeated.

She didn’t want the hero to notice her expression, but it was clear that after twenty years of peace, receiving news of Kriesmeier’s visit to the Mage Tower again made her less than calm. She picked a random question to retort.

Bai Shi was stunned, suddenly realizing that although magic existed on the continent of Mirar, the level of science was still stuck in the Middle Ages. They had no idea what a virus was.

A look of condescending sarcasm flashed across the young hero’s face, and he said in a strange, mocking tone, “So-called Chief Mage, you don’t even know what a virus is. I thought everyone already knew.”

The princess looked at the two of them blankly.

“…Debbie wants to know too.”

Her voice would inevitably weaken in front of many people. But she did seem very curious about the topic.

The hero cleared his throat and looked at the princess’s expectant and admiring gaze. Even through the screen, he felt a warm glow. He glanced contemptuously at the purple-haired witch, finally feeling a sense of modern superiority and the legendary pleasure of putting someone in their place. He opened his browser, ready to read the explanation from an encyclopedia.

This was his moment.

If the purple-haired witch hadn’t rudely interrupted him.

“You wait a minute. Who told you I haven’t heard that word?” Hilda said, then she patiently turned to Debbie and said, “Viruses are very small, so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye, so they can appear in various hidden places or be carried by animals. But once they enter the body, they will make a person sick.”

Bai Shi froze in place.

“Wait,” he said, “how do you know? No, no, what you said isn’t standard. Debbie, listen to me, ‘A virus is a non-cellular microorganism’…”

“What’s a ‘cell’?”

Debbie’s face had just shown a glimmer of understanding, but she quickly became confused again. “And what’s a ‘microorganism’?”

Hilda stroked her hair: “If you want to learn, I’ll teach you later. This is also what my mentor told me. Although I was surprised when I first heard it, it’s actually very interesting to study… But for now, these are too complicated for you, and that hero is a terrible teacher.”

“Your mentor?”

This time it was the hero who started to question her in a sharp voice.

He sounded like he was gritting his teeth and was completely unprepared for this carefully planned opportunity to be ruined in this way.

Hilda shrugged, “Isn’t that normal? You just said everyone would know.”

Bai Shi stared at her through the screen.

The hero’s blue eyes were almost sparking with anger, and only then did the witch smile and admit, “Okay, I also heard my mentor mention these things. However, he disappeared before he had time to explain them in detail. Let’s just say he disappeared. Anyway, I’ve also been trying to research it—”

“This is impossible.”

Bai Shi’s face was a mess.

He called out to the system in his mind, wondering if it was also bound to another person.

A little static suddenly came from his ears, but it was like a hallucination. Soon, the sound from the headphones returned to the normal game background music—that’s right, these were the headphones that the passerby had dropped. They were much more expensive than the ones he had used before, so he quickly switched to them. Logically, such a big brand of headphones shouldn’t have any problems.

Bai Shi didn’t pay too much attention to this problem.

His mind was now firmly occupied by other confusions. Fortunately, the system appeared in his mind in time and quickly gave him a response. The mechanical voice sounded a little hesitant, but it still told him without hesitation that there was no previous host.

“Then what’s going on?” Bai Shi couldn’t help but blurt out.

“What’s going on?” Debbie asked timidly. Hilda looked at him and added, “By the way, you don’t need to worry about the raven’s hygiene. Its claws are very clean and don’t have the viruses you mentioned.”

“You can’t possibly be sure of that.” The hero was still confrontational, but his blue eyes seemed a little self-doubting. “There is no channel for that.”

“I can,” Hilda said, “using the old methods of the Mirar Continent. A powerful cleansing magic is not difficult most of the time.”

Bai Shi wanted to refute how magic and science could be lumped together. But he couldn’t find any strong evidence to prove that the other party couldn’t do it, especially when the other party miraculously understood the knowledge that belonged only to this world. He suddenly felt a chill all over, feeling the cold air touching his body bit by bit through the open balcony door.

The system’s mechanical voice also sounded a little urgent: “Scanning for anomalies, host please wait.”

This sentence was repeated over and over again with no new variation.

Bai Shi fell into a strange silence, which seemed to mark a temporary end to the standoff between the legendary hero and the chief witch, and the winner was obvious. Debbie, who learned that the raven was gentle and harmless after a complete disinfection process, happily started stroking the raven’s feathers again with her fingers.

But there was no joy of victory on Hilda’s face.

On the contrary, she also seemed to have her own troubles, furrowing her brows and staring at the parchment that had been put away.

On the parchment, the apprentices who were left behind to “guard” the Mage Tower—though they self-proclaimed it as being “abandoned” because they were dissatisfied with not being able to go to the kingdom with the Archmage—told a dramatic story:

The Demon King Kriesmeier descended menacingly, his wings covering the sky, almost obscuring the day. It looked as if he was going to tear this Mage Tower apart and was confident that he could successfully destroy its defenses.

But he didn’t have time to do so.

Because the tower was right there. The Demon King could distinctly feel a protective shield, condensed by the power of powerful and bright starlight. No matter how he thought about it, this was a relic of that mysterious Archmage. Kriesmeier had already gripped his scythe, but after it identified his identity, the shield suddenly flickered amicably, and then completely disappeared.

The second safest place on the continent had thus opened its welcoming doors to him.

Kriesmeier lowered his dark golden eyes, staring coldly at this inexplicable tower, feeling that the tower was as unreasonable as its owner. Then he realized he was caught in a memory of uncertain authenticity again.

He walked to the entrance of the Mage Tower without any hindrance.

…And then he walked up the winding stairs of the Mage Tower without any hindrance. There had been human presences in the tower, but they were well-hidden. Mastering survival techniques was indeed the first lesson the Archmage had taught them. Kriesmeier’s boots echoed on the steps of the Mage Tower. He smelled the heavy scent of potions and witch’s powder mixed together.

Perhaps there was an ambush upstairs.

Kriesmeier thought so.

But he walked all the way to the top floor and only saw a hastily written note on the wall. The note was slightly curled up, not smoothed out, and the ink on it was not yet dry. The wording was quite tactful.

“The Archmage’s room is to the left, but anything of value has probably been taken by you. If you want a cup of tea, please go to the right, enter the room with the pink door, and command the tea set. It will move by itself. We have no hostility towards you, we are just entertaining you as per regulations. The person who can answer your questions is not here, but in the kingdom. From the apprentices of the Mage Tower.”

The handwriting on the note was slender, and exactly the same as the handwriting on the parchment Hilda received.

The person who wrote this letter was considered the most knowledgeable person: the new witch Anna.

All in all, the letter wrote:

“About half an hour later, Kriesmeier left the Mage Tower.”

“Yes, he went to the Archmage’s room. I will attach a list of lost items at the end of the letter. Yes, he also went to that pink room. No one thinks that His Majesty the Demon King went specifically to admire the tea set performance, but he didn’t touch the tea or the desserts.”

“The other places were unharmed, miraculously, without any damage.”

The situation was much better than at the Kingdom’s hot spring square.

However, Hilda did not ignore the most important ending—

“He has left, Miss Hilda, in the direction of the west. Uh, we could only tell him the truth. So I think His Majesty the Demon King should be on his way to the kingdom now.”

Hilda really, really, really did not want tomorrow’s headline to be:

“—Demon King Kriesmeier attacks the kingdom for the third time. Does this signify the final Holy War?”

No, that wouldn’t do. Similar things wouldn’t either.

As a rule, the black cat would appear a little later in the day. Given that Kriesmeier would definitely look for the group of Mage Tower members who came to visit the empire before he found the Archmage, she had better get going immediately. Otherwise, she couldn’t imagine how the King and Queen would feel when they saw the Demon King and little Princess Debbie in the same space again.

“I have to leave for a little while.”

The purple-haired witch said. Debbie looked very disappointed when she heard this. The little princess’s golden hair made her look like some kind of fluffy little animal. She looked at Hilda with reluctance.

On the other side, the golden-haired hero felt that he had heard the only good news of the day.

“I’ll take good care of Debbie.”

Bai Shi said, and at the same time, he shielded the princess behind him. Although Debbie was reluctant to part with Hilda, she remembered her mother’s teachings and also didn’t dislike the hero, even though he had made a complete fool of himself just now.

A child’s world is very simple.

As long as the other person is willing to play with them.

Just as Bai Shi felt that this was a great opportunity to leave a much deeper impression on the little princess than Hilda, Hilda spoke unexpectedly, her voice soft and elegant:

“You’re alone? I’m worried that you’ll be too busy, and if there’s any oversight, that would be terrible.”

“How could that be?” The hero’s smile became gentle and sunny again. “Taking care of Debbie is my duty. I will do my best.”

They spoke politely to each other in front of the child, but Bai Shi was actually praying in his heart for this annoying woman to disappear from his sight. This wish was so strong that it almost drowned out the system’s electronic voice. Bai Shi seemed to hear his headphones hissing with some static again, but he was so focused that he didn’t care.

Hilda seemed to be tired of exchanging pleasantries with him.

“Forget it,” the witch said, “I found someone to take my place. You’ll meet her in a little while. I hope this is effective enough.”

“Her?” The hero keenly noticed the pronoun.

The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but turn up. To work with another woman, and a beautiful one at that, would be just what he wanted. But he didn’t show it on his face, only nodding faintly, “I really don’t know why you don’t trust me.”

Hilda glanced at her pocket watch. Then she decided not to waste any more words on a person of no value.

“I must go.” She said to Debbie, and at the same time, she hesitated for a moment and let the python on her body slither down to stay in the palace to accompany Debbie—after all, the python would be useless against the evil great demon king. “Tell His Majesty the Emperor that I have to miss the Saintess’s visit. My old friend has received the news. I will be back in time.”

Then, her figure hurried away.

“Maybe I was too impatient.”

Roland said. He was sitting on the second floor of an internet cafe. He had been in this place for quite some time, so much so that it felt familiar. He lowered his amber eyes and pressed the power button of the computer.

As a precaution, he had visited several other places, and it was already very late when he returned.

Through the window of the internet cafe, he couldn’t see the moon. The moon hung higher in the sky. He also couldn’t see the moonlight. Humans had created a bustling city, and the traffic on the ground was enough to cover the glow of nature. Lights of various colors were reflected in human pupils. He suddenly closed his eyes, as if a little tired.

He mumbled, “I always wanted to finish everything quickly and go back. Although Kris won’t wait for me anymore, I can be less… is this selfish? Because I’m actually the one who can’t wait for a second.”

During the short time it took for the computer to boot up, he reached for his chest. Under layers of clothing was a pitch-black feather. His fingers gently slid down the feather.

Roland talked to himself, without even opening his eyes, not expecting a response.

It was indeed quiet around him. The noise from the internet cafe downstairs seemed very far away. The human knew that the world consciousness that had been in his phone probably couldn’t respond to him at this moment.

After all, the black book was now connected to its backup on the Bluetooth headphones and was busy analyzing the situation of that “Bai Shi,” probably unable to stay here to listen to the Archmage’s emotional problems.

It was pitch black in front of him. His eyelids trembled slightly, blocking all the distractions from the bright world. For some reason, Roland didn’t want to open his eyes at all. He fumbled to touch the mouse on the desk and then carefully moved it, double-clicking twice at the memorized location on the desktop based on pure intuition.

He heard the sound of the audio connecting.

Then, there was the deep and long melody of the Abyss Continent login screen. As if playing a game on his own, he carefully moved the mouse. This time it was even simpler; the account and password were left on the computer, and he only needed to find the location of the login button.

He pressed the mouse.

Even with his eyes closed, as long as he didn’t tightly furrow his brows, he could still perceive the light and dark of the outside world. Such a change undoubtedly told Roland that the previous page had disappeared and he had now reached the final stage of entering the game.

This was a terribly boring challenge.

Roland said this to himself. He knew he could open his eyes now. When he realized this, he started to laugh at himself. The background of the Abyss login screen had never changed, which meant that closing his eyes and adding a little harmless difficulty was just to avoid that scene.

To avoid the lord of the Abyss, who looked down on him under the bloody night.

To avoid the eyes of his lover.

…How absurd.

These thoughts just lightly passed through his mind. The game loading took about ten seconds. Roland didn’t open his eyes at the first moment, as if doing so would successfully evade the accusations that were so perceptive to him. Although opening his eyes on this page was safe, most of the time there were just some small tips, and the background image was a map of the Mirar Continent.

He clearly heard his heart skip a beat.

Then Roland realized he regretted it. He wanted to see Kriesmeier.

Even if the other party would only look at him with indifferent eyes, and seeing such an image would only add to his sadness, he still couldn’t suppress the urge to see the other party. Even if this was enough, if this was already good enough.

An unrealistic thought suddenly emerged in his mind.

What if it was today.

Roland thought. What if it was right now? What if I could only make one wish, and I was willing to give everything to make it come true?

This thought was extremely detached from reality and had no reason. However, at that moment, it was like a glimmer of hope igniting in the human’s mind. A candle lit in the darkness by imagination, and the moment one touches its light, they will be burned by a false warmth.

—What if I open my eyes and I can see Kriesmeier?

The human was first surprised by this thought loudly spoken in his mind, but then he felt a burning sensation on his face and couldn’t help but smile a little. Such a vague fantasy was no longer suitable for his age.

But he was happy with the thought.

Even if he would inevitably be disappointed, being able to make this wish was already good enough for him. Roland suppressed the questions that kept popping up in his mind, decided to walk out of his wild fantasies, and face reality directly. But before that, he gave himself five seconds to dream.

Five. Four. Three.

What should appear in front of him should be a bare forest. At this moment, the moon must be visible on the Mirar Continent.

He had lied to others so many times that he could even lie to himself without changing his expression.

Two.

This was not the best time, of course not.

A carefully arranged, romantic, and completely unburdened reunion was what he really wanted.

One.

But, it would be great if Kriesmeier was really in front of him.

…

Roland opened his eyes. The soft light in the room was a bit too dazzling for him because he had kept his eyes closed for so long. But as his vision returned, his pupils blankly reflected everything on the screen.

He even doubted that he had ever pressed the game login button.

Otherwise, how could a living Demon King really appear on the screen like this, looking at him like this, as if the wish he had made as a joke had come true so lightly.

“Kris?”

There seemed to be a faint breath on his lips, but Roland didn’t actually make a sound.

For the two pairs of eyes on the Mirar Continent, the black cat appeared out of thin air.

It was hard to say which part appeared first. In short, countless fragmented particles formed the silhouette of a cat, and then gradually perfected into more detailed features. Even its fur was lifelike and fluffy, making one want to touch it.

It looked very light and very agile.

But the cat froze in place, and all the fur on its body stood up in a state of stress. It solidified into a black shadow on the ground, its ears standing straight up. Roland felt that he could even hear the sound of the moonlight falling in the forest.

Its amber pupils were like two pure and beautiful gems, without a trace of impurity, quietly not moving.

His heartbeat suddenly sounded, like a sudden thunderstorm.

The amber pupils reflected the Demon King who was leaning down. Kriesmeier’s silver-gray long hair abruptly appeared in the night, as if made of metal. Roland longed to touch his hair, to know if the feel was the same as in the past.

In the Demon King’s hand was the scythe “Demoneye” wreathed in pitch-black malice. The scythe and the black cat were very close, because the scythe came first, and then the black cat appeared. There was a section of bone on the scythe that was exceptionally new and white.

That was his rib.

Roland suddenly felt an undeniable emptiness in the left side of his chest, an abrupt feeling that he could not suppress. He stood there stunned, just like the black cat on the screen, holding his breath, cautiously, not understanding what was in front of him, whether the realization of his wish was real or fake.

But this scene was so fragile, as if a slightly louder heartbeat would break the delicate balance that was being maintained at this moment.

He couldn’t control himself.

He just looked up at the Demon King Kriesmeier. After a long time—or just what he thought was a long time—he suddenly realized what was making him so stiff.

Those cold and beautiful dark golden eyes.

They were not the slightest bit different because of the appearance of the black cat, eyes that still reflected nothing.

Roland nervously reached for his neck until, under his clothes, a pitch-black feather attached to a string and hanging close to his skin was touched, and he suddenly breathed in large gasps like a drowning person.

At that moment, Kriesmeier also straightened up coldly.

He asked: “Is this what you wanted to show me?”